


Flying High

by secretsofthesky



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Blind Character, F/M, Fluff, Open Ending, Swearing, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 10:23:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15459249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secretsofthesky/pseuds/secretsofthesky
Summary: "I’m glad you sat down next to me, Jughead Jones.”His heart thudded in his chest. “I’m glad you let me, Betty Cooper.”In fact, there wasn’t anything in his life he could think of that he was more thankful for.





	Flying High

I know, oh yes, I know that we can't

Be together, but I, I just like to dream

It's so strange the way our paths have crossed

How we were brought together

It's written in the stars it seems

-Jem, Flying High

* * *

 

Jughead Jones paced back and forth impatiently at the bus stop, one hand in his pocket and the other twirling a cigarette between his fingertips. He wouldn’t smoke it, though the urge still reared its ugly head occasionally. He just carried one with him still, as a reminder that he was strong enough to not light it up, because with everything that went on in his life on a daily basis, he needed that reminder that he was in control of  _ something _ . Even if it was something as small as that. 

 

It’d been one month since he quit cold turkey.

 

And it had been the best month of his life.

 

Not because he’d stopped smoking, but because the  _ reason _ he stopped in the first place. 

 

The blonde haired beauty that had owned him from the second she smiled at him. 

 

* * *

 

 

_ Jughead cursed as the bus pulled up and everyone that had been waiting for it at the bus stop started piling on. An older woman glanced at the symbol on his jacket and then up at his face with a scowl. He rolled his eyes, cursing Fangs for wrecking his bike and forcing him to take the bus in the first place. It could have waited, he didn’t _ have  _ to go today, but he wanted it over and done with. The sooner he made it to the prison, visited his father and said his goodbyes, the sooner he could hopefully move on with his life.  _

 

_ Well, as much moving on as he could now that he was a Serpent himself. But it was going to be different now. They weren’t going to be doing the same shady shit they were doing when his father was running things. He was going to turn things around. Or he was at least going to try his damndest to. _

 

_ Jughead pushed the coins into the toll machine and stepped onto the bus, instantly regretting letting everyone get on before him when he realized almost every seat was now taken. _

 

_ “Just great,” he muttered, pushing his way passed the people who were stuffed two to three people per bench on either side of the aisle. He grabbed one of the handles hanging from the roof and cursed Fangs yet again and then himself for not just borrowing someone else’s bike. It was a thirty minute ride to the prison, not counting the rest of the stops the bus would be making. His arm was going to be asleep within five minutes. _

 

_ The bus took off with a jerk and he gripped the handle tighter to stop himself from flying to the other side of the bus. The same lady that had scowled at him at the stop was in the seat next to him and kept sending him dirty looks out of the corner of her eye. He caught her eye and winked, causing her to jump and then open her newspaper, hiding her face behind it.  _

 

_ He chuckled as the bus came to a stop, letting off a few passengers. He glanced behind him to see a single seat now open and quickly made his way over to it before someone else could take it.  _

 

_ “Do you care if I sit here?” he asked, noticing someone was already occupying part of the bench seat. _

 

_ The girl smiled up at him and for a second he forgot how to breathe. “Of course,” she answered, before returning to look out the window to her left. _

 

_ Jughead cleared his throat and slowly sat. “Ah, thanks.” He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, taking her in. She was small, fitted against the window and he understood why he hadn’t instantly seen her when he first got on the bus. Her blonde hair was pulled up in a tight ponytail, and she was wearing a pair of jeans and a tan cardigan, a large bag by her feet and a pair of sunglasses perched on her nose despite the dreary day. He couldn’t even her whole face because of them, but her smile alone had hit him straight in the gut.  _

 

_ As if sensing his eyes on her, she turned to him again, that smile hesitatingly making it’s way to her lips again. “Do you have enough room?” She moved to scooch closer to the window. _

 

_ Jughead felt his cheeks heat up and cursed under his breath. What the hell was wrong with him? As if he’d never seen a beautiful woman before.  _

 

Never one like this _ , he thought. She was so angelic.  _ Innocent _. The women he was used to seeing were a very different kind of beautiful.  _

 

_ “Yeah,” he assured her. “I have enough room, thanks.” he stretched his legs out, trying to appear normal, even as his eyes drifted back to her again. She was still looking his way and he suddenly felt self conscious of how he was dressed. Combat boots, dark jeans, sweater, beanie, and… his Serpent jacket.  _

 

_ He waited for the intake of breath, waited for her to move further away when she noticed what he was, just like everyone did when they realized he was involved with a gang, but it never came.  _

 

_ “I’m Betty, by the way.” Her soft voice drifted over to him and his eyes were pulled her way again. “You’re breathing really fast. Are you uncomfortable?” _

 

_ She could hear his breathing? How fucking humiliating. Jughead squeezed his eyes closed and urged himself to calm down. Why was he acting like a fumbling preteen who was in the proximity of a beautiful girl for the first time? _

 

_ He cleared his throat again, wiping his suddenly sweaty palms on his jeans. “I’m fine.” he told her. “I just don’t like buses.” It was a partial truth. “I’m Jughead.” _

 

_ “Jughead?” she asked, that breathtaking smile making its way to her lips again.  _

 

_ He chuckled at the surprise in her voice. “Yeah, it’s a nickname.”  _

 

_ “Well, Jughead, it’s nice to meet you.” She leaned toward him a little. “I don’t particularly care for buses either, but maybe if we stick together it won’t be so bad.” _

 

_ Nothing had ever sounded better in his life.  _

 

* * *

 

 

They had talked all the way to his stop. He had found out she was eighteen, only a year younger than him, and that she took the bus twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays, to visit her sister since she didn’t drive. They talked about music, to which they mostly didn’t agree, and books, to which he swore made her so excited she literally bounced in her seat a few times, making him laugh. She never made a remark about his jacket, or the Serpents. She didn’t look at him with fear or act wary at all. For thirty minutes he was just a regular guy talking to a girl on a bus. 

 

And it was the first thirty minutes in a long time that he had felt truly worry free and  _ normal _ .

 

The bus ride that he was sure would last a lifetime seemed to go by in a flash and before he knew it, they were at his stop. He said a quick goodbye, took in one more of those smiles, and got off to go visit his father. 

 

He didn’t know whether it was the good mood he suddenly found himself in, or the idea of taking another bus ride the following week, but the visit with his father went completely different than he had planned and he left with a promise of being back the following week instead of saying goodbye for the next twenty years. 

 

While the bus ride to the prison had flown by, the bus ride on the way back and the entire next week felt like the slowest of his life. He threw himself into Serpent business, trying to get everything in order, and nearly gave up a half a dozen times. But a pretty blonde’s face kept flashing into his brain and he found himself pushing through because he had something to look forward to, for the first time in a very long time.

 

* * *

 

 

_ Jughead made sure he was one of the first people on the bus the following Monday and bit his lip to hold back a grin as he saw Betty in the same spot, the seat beside her open.  _

 

_ “This seat taken?” he asked. _

 

_ “It is,” Betty glanced up at him. “By some guy with a weird name.” _

 

_ Jughead chuckled as he slid into the seat next to her. “Oh, yeah?”  _

 

_ It was her turn to smile, her eyes shielded by glasses yet again. “I’m going to have to come up with a nickname for your nickname. I was thinking Juggie.” _

 

_ Jughead threw his head back with a laugh. If god forbid any of the guys ever heard someone call him that, he’d never live it down. But coming from her lips, it sounded like the most perfect thing he ever heard.  _

 

* * *

 

 

It was after that second Monday that he found himself driving to the bus stop on a Wednesday and parking his bike in the lot across the street, receiving suspicious looks from a few people. His bike had been fixed since the day after his first bus ride, and the prison didn’t even allow visits on Wednesdays, yet he still found himself sitting at the bus stop, eagerly awaiting its arrival. 

 

It was also that day that he found out why she had been so accepting of who he was. 

 

* * *

 

 

_ “Your turn.” Jughead said, grabbing a cookie from the container Betty passed to him and popping it in his mouth. _

 

_ She tapped a finger against her lips in as if in deep thought. “Do you think everything happens for a reason?”  _

 

_ Jughead stopped chewing and glanced at her for a moment before swallowing quickly and clearing his throat. A couple dozen horrible memories flashed through his head all at once. Memories he’d rather forget. “I don’t know,” he told her honestly. “I’ve experienced, and witnessed, some pretty terrible things that it seemed there was no reason for. So it’s kind of hard to believe they were  _ meant _ to happen.” _

 

_ Betty nodded slowly. “I can understand that. But if you think about it, all those things, whether good or bad, brought you  _ here _.” Her grin was contagious and he realized he would gladly live every one of those horrific moments over again if it meant he would be right there, looking at her smiling at him like he was somehow worthy of it. “I don't believe we just meet people by accident either, Juggie,” she continued. “I think if you cross someone's path, that you were meant to. Whether the reason is obvious or not. We were meant to meet.” _

 

_ Jughead smirked. “You think so?” _

 

_ Betty shrugged. “Most definitely. And I’m thankful for it. You’ve made these bus rides a million times better for me.” _

 

_ Jug’s heart started to beat faster. He wanted to tell her it was the same for him. That their conversations, her acceptance and kindness meant the world to him. That she had brought a light back into his life that had been snuffed out for far too long. He wanted to tell her that when he wasn’t there, he was thinking about being there. Wanted to tell her how she made him feel like a normal person, and he would happily ride the bus every day for the rest of his life it it mean he would be riding it with her.  _

 

_ She nudged his shoulder. “Your turn.” _

 

_ Jughead snagged another cookie, chewing on it as he contemplated his question. “Why do you always wear those sunglasses, even on cloudy days like today?” There were reasons he didn’t want to think about. Domestic abuse was something that was common on the Southside and he had grown up with women who wore glasses and caked on makeup to hide bruises. He prayed that wasn’t her reason, because he would have to go back on the promise he made to himself to not be like his father if he found out someone had laid their hands on her. _

 

_ Betty shifted, looking uncomfortable for the first time since he’d met her and his heart dropped, wondering if his suspicions were correct. “Mainly for protection. But also… it makes people uncomfortable if I’m staring at them without knowing. This way, if I wear the sunglasses, my eyes are shielded, so they won’t really know if I am.”  _

 

_ Jughead stared at her, confused. “How can you stare at someone without knowing you are?” _

 

_ Even as she awkwardly laughed, even as she opened her mouth to answer, he realized why.  _

 

_ It was the reason she didn’t balk at his Serpent jacket or act scared of him like everyone else. The reason she asked odd questions occasionally that she should have known the answer to and he just assumed she asked to keep conversation going. The reason why she had never pulled out her phone to glance at it in any of the time that he had been sitting with her. The reason she never brought up the prison or asked who he visited, because she wasn’t aware that was the bus stop he got off at.  _ __

 

_ “I’m blind, Juggie.” her voice was quiet, nervous. He looked down to see her hands twisting in her lap worriedly, as if she had been afraid of finally saying it and had been putting it off. _

 

_ “How?” he asked, wanting to reach out and take her hand but not knowing if he should. “We’ve talked about places before, you knew exactly how things looked…” _

 

_ She sent him a small smile, though it was much more dim than those he usually received and he hated himself for bringing up this thing she had obviously tried to keep under wraps. “I wasn’t always like this. There was an accident, seven years ago. The good news was that I survived. The bad news was that my sight didn’t.”  _

 

_ Jughead was quiet for a moment, his eyes on her hands as they balled into fists on her lap. Without allowing himself to overthink it anymore, he reached out, taking her both of her hands in one of his larger ones and smiled at her intake of breath.  _

 

_ “Well,” he started quietly, running a thumb gently across her knuckles, trying to ease her discomfort even as he tried to wrap his head around this new information. “Can I add a second part to my question?” _

 

_ Betty bit her lip and slowly nodded her head, sitting up straighter as if preparing herself for the worst. _

 

_ “Is it true that when you lose one of your senses, your others are heightened? Because now I’m a bit self conscious if I smell bad or something.”  _

 

_ Betty’s mouth dropped momentarily in shock before she started laughing, a laugh that was so contagious, he found himself laughing too, relieved that the panic that was on her face was now gone. “Oh my god,” she breathed, when the laughing finally ceased. “I really hate to say this…” _

 

_ It was Jughead’s turn to look shocked. “What the hell? I was just joking!”  _

 

_ Betty broke out into laughter again, the sound reaching in and wrapping around his heart. “I know, I know. I mean, you don’t smell bad as in you didn’t shower. I can smell your body wash. I actually _ really _ like it.” Her voice grew quiet as she finished her sentence and then she cleared her throat. “It’s just the cigarettes.” _

 

_ Jughead cringed. “Yeah, I guess it’s pretty bad.” He could remember how bad he hated smelling it before he smoked. Now that he did too, he didn’t notice it, but he could imagine how it smelled to her. _

 

_ Betty offered him another cookie and he took it. “So, you’re not going to act weird around me now, are you?” she asked quietly, her nerves evident in her voice. _

 

_ Jughead looked over at her, a small smile on his lips. “Other than trying to steal extra cookies now? Not a chance.”  _

 

_ Betty’s lips curved and everything was perfect in the world again. “I’d like to see you try,” she told him and then smacked his hand away when he tried to sneak one, making him laugh in surprise. “Yeah, I definitely do think everything happens for a reason, and this is no exception. People always treat me different once they know, but I should have known you wouldn't. I’m glad you sat down next to me, Jughead Jones.” _

 

_ His heart thudded in his chest. “I’m glad you _ let _ me, Betty Cooper.” _

 

_ In fact, there wasn’t anything in his life he could think of that he was more thankful for. _

 

* * *

 

 

He stopped smoking that day. It nearly killed him, but he did it. The look on her face when he sat down next to her the following week, free from the smell of tobacco, made it all worth it, too.

 

His life until then had been devoid of much love. His mother didn’t love him enough to take him with her when she left - claiming he was already too much like his dad and the thing she wanted to get away from. As for his father, he didn’t love much other than the bottle and trouble. So he really hadn’t experienced much of it at all.

 

What Betty Cooper made him feel though? It was definitely the closest thing to love he’d known. The closest thing he knew he ever had and probably would ever have to it.

 

And he didn’t deserve even a second of it.

 

He knew it, but it didn’t stop him from driving his bike to a bus he didn’t need to take two times a week. It didn’t stop him from soaking up every smile, every word she said, storing it away in his memory for the gloomy days he knew he had ahead of him where he wouldn’t have her. 

 

He knew he was on borrowed time. Their bus rides together wouldn’t last forever, he knew that. But even more, he knew who he was would eventually taint what they had. Ruin it.

 

He had never lied to her, at least he could say that. He just evaded the truth. He told her he was visiting his father, but never said it was at the prison. She questioned once why he didn’t drive, and he said he did, but the bus saved gas. She asked him what he did for a living and he told her about his part time job. He just left out the rest of the mess the Serpents did. 

 

Those bus rides twice a week were his sanctuary away from all of that. Away from the threat of the Ghoulies, away from the cops that were always trying to pin something on him. His chance to just be a normal nineteen year old. For two hours a week he was someone who deserved her smiles, who made her laugh. He was the guy he wished he could be all the time.

 

And even though it was selfish, he wanted it to stay this way for as long as possible. Even though she had been so open and honest with him about everything, and he knew the second she found out who he really was, everything would change. His life would be back to the bleakness it once was. Her little bit of light would leave and he’d be in darkness again. It’s just the way it was. No one could accept what he was. Someone as pure as her didn’t deserve to even be put in the situation to. 

 

He looked up as the bus pulled up to the stop and he climbed on, heading towards the back, amazed that even though this was their seventeenth bus ride together, still seeing her there had his heart racing and a stupid smile spreading across his face on its own accord. 

 

“Hi,” she greeted breathlessly as he slid into the seat next to her, noticing her hands clasped tightly in her lap.

 

“Hey,” he replied, shifting to get comfortable and then shot a look at her hands again. “What’s wrong?”

 

Betty jumped as if not prepared for his question and then chuckled to herself, putting her head back against the seat and shaking it. “Nothing’s wrong, I’m just a freak.”

 

“Definitely,” Jughead agreed. “But a  _ cute _ freak.”

 

Betty blushed and bit her lip. “I have a favor to ask,” she started slowly. “Well not so much a favor as a question.” She took a deep, drawn out, breath. “What do you look like?”

 

“What do I look like?” Jughead repeated, unable to tear his eyes away from where she was nervously biting at her lip, mesmerized. “Are you telling me it’s been two months and you’re only  _ now _ asking if I have two heads?”

 

Betty laughed and bumped his shoulder. “Don’t make me get out my white cane and beat you with it.” 

 

Jughead chuckled, taking off his beanie and nervously running his fingers through his hair before putting it back on. “Okay well, I’m tall, but not too tall. Definitely taller than you, though,” he said and she nodded, eagerly, making him chuckle at her obvious excitement. “I tan easily. I have dark hair, it’s kinda long and probably needs cut. Umm, and bluish-green eyes - sometimes one color more than the other, sometimes a mix, it really depends on the day.”

 

“They sound  _ beautiful _ .”

 

Jughead cleared his throat. “Yeah, uh, I guess.” He straightened his clothes, suddenly nervous. “Two eyes, one nose, one mouth. No extra body parts or abnormal growths.” 

 

Betty laughed. “No, you have to be more specific than that!”

 

Jughead groaned. “I’m not the best at describing things.”  _ And _ he was nervous. Nervous if he told her he had tattoos, that she would ask what they were of and he’d have to lie. Nervous is he explained how he had a long scar on the side of his face, that she would ask what it was from and he’d have to lie so she didn’t know he got it in a fight with a rival gang. 

 

“You are amazing at describing things, Juggie,” she told him. “I actually think you’d be a fantastic writer.”

 

He lifted his head, shocked. A long time ago he once dreamed of doing just that, but he hadn't considered it in a long time. Not since he realized dreams on the Southside never came true so they were pointless to dwell on. 

 

“You think so?” His voice was so quiet he was surprised she heard him.

 

She reached over and took his hand, warmth instantly spreading over his skin. “I  _ know _ so. That’s why I love our conversations so much. I don’t know if you’ve even realized it either but ever since you found about about me, you’ve started describing things to me as you talk so that it paints a picture in my head for me. From the bus stop, to your job, to your friends. You always speak in such detail, except when it comes to yourself.”

 

Jughead swallowed. “Maybe there’s not much to really brag about.”

 

“I doubt that.” She told him, lifting her hand from his and moving them to her glasses, slowly pulling him away from her face.

 

Her smile, the way her forehead creased when she laughed or was confused, the way her cheeks turned red when she was embarrassed and her nose crinkled up when he told her something crazy that she wasn’t sure whether to be disgusted about or not, from that alone he thought she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. But now, seeing her completely, with her pale green eyes looking at him, he knew nothing in this world would ever compare. 

 

When he didn’t say anything, she flushed, moving to put her glasses back on but he reached out, stopping her hand. “ _ Don’t. _ ” 

 

She took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling nearly as fast as his own. “I think now I need to ask for a favor.”

 

“Anything.” he whispered, eyes still on her, unable to look away.

 

“Can I touch you?” she asked hesitantly. “Your face? So I can see you too?”

 

Even though they were sounded by people talking, with the sound of the ever present traffic outside on top of the loud engine of the bus, the world was silent except for her hesitant words. 

 

“Yeah.” he found himself replying, unable to move as she lifted her hand slowly to his cheek. 

 

He didn’t move, _ couldn’t _ move, as her fingers lightly brushed down his cheek and then back up again, then slowly stroking along his jaw. She smiled as he flexed it under her touch automatically. Then she was running a finger over his nose and then down the length of it, back up again, tracing his eyebrows. He closed his eyes, his heart threatening to beat out of his chest as she lightly ran her finger over his eyelids, brushing his eyelashes and then bringing them up into his hair.

 

“A beanie?” She asked quietly, fingering it. “In the summer?”

 

His voice was deep and quiet when he answered. “Don’t you know I’m a weirdo by now?”

 

Betty laughed lightly. “You’re the best kind of weirdo though, Juggie.” she told him before grabbing his beanie and pulling it off, letting it fall to her lap. Then her fingers were in his hair, moving through the long strands and he was pretty sure he was going to hell for the feelings that shot through him at her touch. 

 

Then both of her hands were on him, traveling down over his cheeks, along his jaw again and then his chin, one hand venturing down his neck while the other found his lips.

 

Betty blushed as she ran her finger slowly along his bottom lip, then the top pne, tracing them over and over, her own lips turning up at the sides. “Jug,” she just whispered, continuing to move her fingers over him. 

 

The jerk of the bus sent his beanie flying from her lap and Betty grabbed her hands away quickly and he took the moment to bend down to grab it. He blinked, once, twice, waking up from the spell she just had him under to realize they were at his stop. 

 

“Shit.” he muttered as he watched people get up to exit the bus.

 

“It’s your stop.” Betty said, more as a statement than a question. “I’ll see you Wednesday then?”

 

“Yeah.” How was she so calm when his body was still going crazy? “Wednesday,” he promised before standing up and placing his beanie on his head. 

 

He took a few steps towards the front of the bus before stopping and spinning around, walking back to the seat and watched her look up in his direction expectantly. “They’re gonna take off with you still on the bus.” she told him when he was silent for a moment. 

 

“I know, I just…” he started and then shook his head, taking in her full face once again. “You’re beautiful, Betty Cooper. I just wanted you to know that.”

 

There was a sharp surprised intake of breath before a grin lit up her face, one more stunning than any he had seen before. “You are too, Jughead Jones, both inside and out.” 

 

Jughead shook his head, amazed, before walking to the front of the bus, but when he turned to catch a glimpse of her one last time before he got off, the smile on his face instantly dropped. 

 

He watched helplessly as that same old woman, the one from the bus stop the very first day and the one who had sent him looks every time he had sat with Betty since, had made her way to the seat he had just occupied. He couldn’t breathe as he watched her point to him, even though Betty couldn't see where she was pointing, and watched as her lips uttered the word  _ Serpent. _ He watched as Bettys eyebrows drew together in confusion and then shock, any sign of the happiness that was just there completely drained from her face. 

 

This was it. She knew. And there was nothing he could do but watch it happen.

 

The bus driver cleared his throat and Jughead reluctantly stepped off the bus, knowing it would be the last time he did so.

 

He had known it wouldn't last. Nothing good in his life ever did. And he knew he didn’t deserve her friendship. A guy like him didn’t deserve the light she gave. 

 

Jughead watched as the bus slowly took off down the street and didn’t look away until minutes after it was completely gone from sight. Taking with him some of the only happiness he’d ever known. 

 

Jughead looked down, kicking his boot against the ground angrily before walking over to the bus stop bench, sitting and putting his head in his hands. Even if he tried to go back and talk to her, it wouldn’t matter. He knew what he was. And if for some reason she was able to look past that, she wouldn’t be able to forgive him for keeping it from her. 

 

For a while he had believed he was something more than some messed up kid from the Southside of town. One with no hope, no future. She had made him feel like he was something. Like he was worth something. 

 

And now he was back to nothing. 

 

Back to the darkness.

 

Yeah, nothing good ever lasted in his life. He knew that.

 

He was a fool to think otherwise.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr: [secretsofthesky](http://www.secretsofthesky.tumblr.com)


End file.
